Chukwudi Nweje
Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shahu has said his boss didn’t need to inform the National Assembly of his private trip to London, the United Kingdom (UK).
Shehu insisted on a Lagos-based national television programme, on Sunday, that the president did not commit any constitutional infraction by travelling without transmitting a letter to the National Assembly.
He said: “The president did not make a mistake by taking off without writing a letter to the National Assembly because it was unnecessary. The Constitution says 21 days is the mark-off point. As it is now, there is no constitutional or legal infraction that has happened.
“The president can operate from wherever he is; if you are a Permanent Secretary and the president calls you from Abidjan and says you go and repair that road, are you going to tell him, ‘Mr. President, you are not in Nigeria, you are in Abidjan’ and because of that you are not going to do the work? Do you think you will have your job waiting for you? There is absolutely no stress surrounding this because in the last three days of Mr. President being in the UK, we are in touch with him. We are aware he met with the Foreign Minister, two days ago, and advised him on engagement with the West African coast.
“He was also in touch, watching over incidents happening in Gombe State and other places in the country. The president is in charge.”
Shehu said these in reaction to the Deputy National Chairman of the People’s democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Yemi Akinwonmi, who questioned the legality of Buhari’s trip to the UK.
Akinwonmi said the standard procedure, all over the world, was for the president to inform its Legislature before embarking on any foreign trip.
Said Akinwonmi: “I know the standard convention all over the world; it is that when the president is travelling out of his domain, whether privately, after about six or seven days, he has to have a recourse to the National Assembly, to disclose his mission and then, transfer power to the vice president.